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Haas car legality and double standards

From the article:The FIA recently clarified that it considered Mercedes' controversial rear wheel rim concept, featuring internal holes and seen by some as potentially a prohibited moveable aerodynamic device, legal and whatever aero effect it produced "incidental".

Mercedes has not used it in the past two races to avert the risk of a Ferrari protest, but Haas said the precedent the FIA had set there ought to help his team.

"What did they say about Mercedes, that their little disc didn't have any effect on aerodynamics, it was immeasurable? It's the same thing for us," Haas told Autosport.

"What we did in putting a radius on a corner really was immeasurable.

"When it comes to Mercedes, they get away with it. When it comes to us, we get hammered. That radius was not relevant to performance."

I got to agree with Haas on this one.
It smacks of a double standard and they should reverse the ruling from Monza and give them back the points.

and while we are at it, I'm also getting tired of all these teams trying to go to the FIA (cough...Renault...) to look for ways to disqualify their opponents post race.
It should be used for major infractions and serious issues, not as a desperate and conniving method of gaining a leg up on your competitors when clearly it has no impact on the actual racing.

The thing is that Haas broke a black-and-white part of the rules, got caught and Renault had all the right to appeal - their rivals caught them using a car which was blatantly illegal and they got rightly disqualified as a result. It was up to Haas to manufacture cars according to the technical regulations and they didn't.

As for Mercedes, the thing is that you can't really know for certain whether their wheel rims had any aerodynamic implications, as they can argue that the purpose of the wholes was for brake cooling or whatever they was - they haven't been caught red-handed and that's the end of the story. The most that can happen now is that the FIA will now issue a clarification on whether having holes in your brake discs is allowed or not, but that will affect the next races only.

From the article:The FIA recently clarified that it considered Mercedes' controversial rear wheel rim concept, featuring internal holes and seen by some as potentially a prohibited moveable aerodynamic device, legal and whatever aero effect it produced "incidental".

Mercedes has not used it in the past two races to avert the risk of a Ferrari protest, but Haas said the precedent the FIA had set there ought to help his team.

"What did they say about Mercedes, that their little disc didn't have any effect on aerodynamics, it was immeasurable? It's the same thing for us," Haas told Autosport.

"What we did in putting a radius on a corner really was immeasurable.

"When it comes to Mercedes, they get away with it. When it comes to us, we get hammered. That radius was not relevant to performance."

I got to agree with Haas on this one.
It smacks of a double standard and they should reverse the ruling from Monza and give them back the points.

and while we are at it, I'm also getting tired of all these teams trying to go to the FIA (cough...Renault...) to look for ways to disqualify their opponents post race.
It should be used for major infractions and serious issues, not as a desperate and conniving method of gaining a leg up on your competitors when clearly it has no impact on the actual racing.

Using the rim to cool brakes was a thing that has been in F1 for as long as l can remember. Mercedes has just adapted that to cool the rear tyres via the rim. The main distinguishing factor is that this feature is not a characteristic of the chassis if you like. It is also an adaptation in a part of the car that is not restricted by any rules par se.

The HAAS situation sort of is on the chassis and is on a clearly restricted or regulated aspect of the chassis. It is unfortunate that they got disqualified, but the decision was fair and correct. There was no double standard here.

These cars are so heavily regulated that it is very easy to unwittingly transgress the rules. I am sure Haas would find a way round the problem as all F1 teams eventually do.

You can call it unlucky and maybe it was, but they knew the rough roads were going to be hard on the cars - his team-mate drove a strategic rally to look after the car and finished on the podium as a...